This is Where I’ve Been

  Week Fifteen: All Things Must Pass pt.1 Now the darkness only stays at nighttime In the morning it will fade away Daylight is good at arriving at the right time It’s not always gonna be this gray. All things must pass All things must pass away –George Harrison, All Things Must Pass from the album All Things Must Pass When my mother died in 1999 I was not ready. On that day my brother’s wife called me, which was unprecedented. I remember her telling me to report to the local hospital as soon as possible, and “It’s not good.” My mother had been a registered nurse, and although she was retired she never stopped being one. She could handle trauma. I guess while working as an industrial nurse at ARMCO Steel Corporation in Baltimore City for a very long time she had seen it all. In fact, I worked there one summer. I think working there encouraged me to finish my college education. It was May of 1973. My young wife and I had only been married for four months. I had just finished my

  Week Fourteen: Every Picture Tells a Story “...and if they had the words I could say to you To help you on your way down the road I couldn’t quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats ‘Cause it’s all been said before Make the best out of the bad, just laugh it off You didn’t have to come here anyway! —Rod Stewart, Every Picture Tells a Story , from album of the same name My daughter sent me a message telling me some distressing news regarding one of her childhood friends. She asked if I might contact her friend in an attempt to help. I agreed, and as I wrote to “Crone” (as I call her) this Rod Stewart classic occurred to me. As I composed my message to Crone, I remembered a day many years earlier. My uncle died in the 1980's. I was asked by his daughter to give a eulogy, which I did. I should add that because I am and have always been exceedingly emotional (my father called me “Sarah Bernhardt”; Google it) delivering a eulogy was darn near unthinkable, but I managed. That day, that

  Week Thirteen: Desperado   Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses? Come down from your fences, open the gate It may be rainin’, but there’s a rainbow above you You better let somebody love you (let somebody love you) You better let somebody love you before it’s too late. --The Eagles, Desperado , from the album Desperado On a beautiful spring day while sitting at a picnic table across from my wife and oldest granddaughter, a local musical artist playing her guitar struck the familiar opening chords of The Eagles’ Desperado . “Oh brother, Granddad’s gonna start cryin’ now,'' my wife told our granddaughter. She wasn’t wrong. That song always prompts my emotional response...for darn good reason. When I was twenty-one years old, we had been married already for three years; and it took about that long for our commitment to longevity to falter and very nearly fail. Nowadays I’m not entirely sure that things happened exactly like my memory suggests, but at some lonely point wh

  Week Twelve: Thunder Road Don’t run back inside Darling you know just what I’m here for So you’re scared and you’re thinking That maybe we ain’t that young anymore Show a little faith there’s magic in the night You ain’t a beauty but hey you’re alright Oh and that’s alright with me You can hide ‘neath the covers And study your pain Make crosses from your lovers Throw roses in the rain Waste your summer praying in vain For a savior to rise from these streets… ...From your front porch to my front seat The door’s open but the ride ain’t free... --Bruce Springsteen, Thunder Road , from Born to Run Springsteen told Rolling Stone Magazine: "The songs (on Born to Run) were written immediately after the Vietnam War, and you forget—everybody felt like that then. There's quite a sense of dread and uncertainty about the future and who you were, where you were going, where the whole country was going, so that found its way into the record." A while ago I stopped using Facebook for

  Week Eleven: Bridge Over Troubled Water When you’re weary Feeling small When tears are in your eyes I will dry them all I'm on your side. Oh, when darkness comes And pain is all around Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down… Like a bridge over troubled water I will ease your mind. —Simon and Garfunkle, Bridge Over Troubled Water,  from the album of the same name (Note: I have several favorite stations on Sirius XM radio. I tend to listen to rock and roll, classic rock, blues, and R&B/soul music. Recently I’ve used a station that advertises itself as soft rock of the 60’s and folk rock of the 70’s.  The channel’s name is The Bridge . For reasons that go scarily past coincidence or irony, this Simon and Garfunkle masterpiece all but demanded that I address the recent tragic loss of life in the water of the Port of Baltimore.) Unless you count the repeated nocturnal visits by my dear, departed mother, I can think of three recurring dreams. All three are unpleasant,